Who is Xi Jinping?

CCTV News

Xi Jinping, President of the People’s Republic of China arrives for his first state visit to the United States this week. Here are a few highlights of the life of China’s 62-year-old leader.

China’s Xi Jinping was born in 1953 and spent his formative years in Beijing. His parents are from a rural county of China’s northwest Shaanxi Province not far from the famous Terra Cotta Warriors in Xi’an. He is the son of the early revolutionary Xi Zhongxun who joined Mao Zedong on the legendary Long March in the 1930’s.

In the late 1960’s, just as many urban youth of the time, Xi Jinping was ‘sent down’ to the countryside. He served seven years working with local farmers working of dams, dikes, and irrigation systems.

File photo taken in 1972 shows Xi Jinping returns home in Beijing to visit his relatives during he served in rural area. Photo by Xinhua

After his work in rural areas, Xi completed his education at Beijing’s Tsinghua University, becoming a Communist Party member in 1974. Xi began his career in local government in the 1980’s serving for two years as a county level official in Zhengding, Hebei province 260 km or 160 miles south of Beijing.

Photo by Xinhua. Xi Jinping in Zhengding County, Hebei in the 1980’s

In 1985, Xi broadened his career during an assignment to Xiamen, a coastal city in China’s southeastern Fujian Province. As China pushed forward its early economic reforms under Deng Xiaoping, Xi became known as a strong advocate for foreign investment in China’s coastal provinces.

File photo shows Xi Jinping when he was vice mayor of Xiamen City of southeast China’s Fujian Province. Photo by Xinhua

Just before his appointment to Vice Mayor of Fujian’s Xiamen City, Xi Jingping made his first trip to America. He joined a work-study program for Chinese officials leading a delegation representing the corn industry to the agricultural state of Iowa.

File photo taken in February 2012 shows Xi Jinping (2nd R, front) and Americans who had hosted him in Iowa in 1985. Photo by Xinhua

In 1987, Xi Jinping married a popular folk singer, Peng Liyuan.

Peng Liyuan, pictured in May 2015 on a visit to Moscow with her husband to mark the 70th anniversary of Victory In Europe Day. AFP PHOTO / ALEXANDER NEMENOV

In 2002, Xi Jinping was transferred to Zhejiang Province, near Shanghai where he was appointed Provincial Party Chief. Xi was known to advocate strong industrial development policies. It was here that his reputation as a leader taking on corruption in government began.
In 2006, Shanghai’s Communist Party Secretary was dismissed after a corruption scandal. Xi Jinping was assigned to replace him in 2007 with the task of cleaning up city government and growing Shanghai’s position as a major financial center.

Photo by Xinhua

In October 2007, Xi was chosen one of the nine members of the standing committee of China ruling Politburo (The political bureau of the Communist Party) . He was elected General Secretary of the Party in 2012 and became President of the People’s Republic of China in March 2013.